


LAKE CHAMPLAIN 

TERCENTENARY 

JULY4-10, 1909 






LAKE CHAM PLAIN from; 
MOUNT DEFIANCE 



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STATE OF NEW YORK 

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT 

1909 











STATE OF NEW YORK 
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT 



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Lake Champlain Tercentenary 



MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION 

Hon. H. WALLACE KNAPP, Mooers, Chairman 

Hon. HENRY W. HILL, Buffalo, Secretary 

Hon. WALTER C. WITHERBEE, Port Henry, Treasurer 

Hon. JAMES J. FRAWLEY, New York 

Hon. JAMES SHEA, Lake Placid 

Hon. WILLIAM R. WEAVER, Peru 

Hon. JAMES A. FOLEY, New York 

Hon. JOHN H. BOOTH, Plattsburg 

Hon. JOHN B. RILEY, Plattsburg 

Hon. LOUIS C. LAFONTAINE, Champlain 

Hon. HOWLAND PELL, New York 



DATES AND PLACES OF FORMAL EXERCISES 

July 5, Crown Point 

July 6, Fort Ticonderoga 

July 7, Plattsburg 

July 8, Burlington 

July 9, Isle La Motte 



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NEW YORK STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT 

1909 



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LAKE CHAMPLAIN TERCENTENARY 



BY THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION 
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THERE is reason enough for the two great celebrations which 
the State of New York is to hold in July and September next. 
Lake Champlain and the Hudson river were discovered and 
explored in the same year, 1609, the lake in July, and the river in 
September. Each took the name of the discoverer. Champlain was 
a French sea captain, in the service of France, and Hudson was an 
English sea captain, in the employ of the Dutch. 

Lake Champlain is about ninety miles long in a straight line. In 
width it varies from a half mile to fifteen miles. It has about fifty 
attractive islands. Its shores are broken by innumerable bays and 
inlets. The Adirondack mountains form the background on the 
New York side, and the Green mountains on the Vermont side. On 
the shores of the lake and at the foot of the mountains there are many 
fine towns and pretty villages, and a great number of sumptuous 
summer homes. The lake has been well stocked with fish, and the 
surrounding forests abound in game. Magnificent steamers and beau- 
tiful sailboats and pleasure yachts traverse its waters. Excellent 
railroads skirt its borders. It has come to be a playground for the 
whole nation. Taken altogether, it makes one of the most attractive 
and impressive regions to be seen anywhere in the world. 

Celebrated as Lake Champlain is for its natural beauty and its 
energetic life, it is even more celebrated for its history. Song and story 
and legend ; forts and battlefields ; heroisms and tragedies which stir 
and appall mankind ; and victories of the utmost importance to 
America and to all civilization, are all associated with Lake Champlain. 
It is hardly too much to say that upon its beautiful waters the Ameri- 
can navy was born, that it witnessed the contests which decided that 
the Iroquois and not the Algonquins or the Hurons, that civilization and 
not savagery, that the English and not the French, that the Republic 
of the United States and not the British Empire, should be dominant, 
successively, in the western continent. 

Lake Champlain, with the Hudson, forms a natural highway cf 
momentous import from the Atlantic ocean to the St Lawrence river. 
The Indians knew this road well and followed it much. They could 
paddle their canoes, by carrying them overland only twenty miles, all 



the way from the mouth of the Hudson to the St Lawrence. If they 
followed the trails along the shores, they encountered no elevation of 
more than one hundred and fifty feet above the level of the sea. 
The rival tribes often fought for the possession of these waters and 
this road. It was the " dark and bloody ground " and became the 
great warpath of the Iroquois, who controlled it until they met white 
men. The French, who came with Champlain, and the Dutch who 
came with Hudson, and the English who followed him, soon found 
this great highway between the north and the south. They took it 
from the Indians, only to fight for it between themselves. Whether 
English or French civilization was to be uppermost in America had to 
be decided by war. Vessels were built and a little navy was con' 
structed. Bloody campaigns surged over these waters and along these 
trails in northern New York. Thousands perished through hardship 
and battle. Old Ticonderoga saw the English triumph. Soon the 
warpath of the Iroquois became the veritable warpath of the Revo- 
lution. Again the battle coursed back and forth along Lake Champlain. 
Now Canada was English instead of French, and from their homes at 
the north and their base of supplies at New York the armies of 
Britain sought to join forces upon this road and sever the patriots of 
New England from their fellows in the Middle and the Southern States. 
Again Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and Plattsburg became invaluable 
strategic points, and once more they and all of the Champlain valley 
were at the very vortex of the dreadful forces of war. The control 
of this great thoroughfare was to determine the issue of American in- 
dependence ; the first British forts seized by the Patriots were upon it : 
and upon it, near Saratoga, the most strategic battle of the Revolution 
was fought, and the most overwhelming victory of the Patriots 
was won. 

In the war which confirmed American independence the Cham- 
plain country was again the vantage ground. An invading army 
of fourteen thousand men, half of whom were regulars and veterans 
fresh from British battles in France and Spain, was driven back by 
New York militiamen at and around Plattsburg. In Plattsburg bay 
the Americans fought the severest naval battle and won the most 
decisive naval victory of the war. Before the onset the American 
commander called the crew of the flagship to the quarter-deck and 
prayed for the victory which the gallantry of the little squadron 
speedily gained. In the battle of Plattsburg bay there were fifty- 
two Americans killed, and upon two of the vessels there was hardly 
a man who was not wounded. Not less than two thousand 



Americans have given up their lives in battles upon and about Lake 
Champlain in order to create and protect American institutions. 

These events make the Champlain country more sacred to all 
patriotic Americans than it is fascinating to all the world. All the men 
and women of our State, and all the boys and girls in the schools, 
should study the details of the history which I can here no more than 
suggest. The celebration, which will occur in the week commencing 
with the 4th of July, must not be a pastime alone. It should quicken 
the minds of all the people of the State of New York with an interest 
in the beautiful valley and the particular places where great events 
have happened. The way to do that most completely is to do it 
through the children in the schools. The teachers are asked to 
cooperate with the State in accomplishing this end. 

The following pages will aid the teachers to procure the information 
which they will need in impressing the lesson. They are particularly 
asked to dwell upon the horrors, as well as the heroisms, of war. 
Nations are more rational, and wars are happily not so common as 
they used to be. France, our early foe and our long-time friend, has 
now many worthy descendants in the Champlain valley : and to them 
we will express our gratitude for the vital aid which their country gave 
to our struggling cause. Old Britain and the United States have come 
to understand each other better and respect each other more; and 
now they will meet upon historic ground to enter into a yet more 
absolute union for the peace, security and progress of the world. 

This celebration is being arranged jointly between the states of 
New York and Vermont, and it is to be participated in by the govern- 
ment and the people of the Dominion of Canada. Everything said 
and everything done will be in the interests of universal good-will. 
This does not imply that we must forget, or that we must omit to 
speak of what has helped to break out the highways of civilization and 
open the way for the advance of democratic freedom and independ- 
ence. Let the lesson be of what our fathers were obliged to do and 
had to suffer ; of our obligations to make the most of what they 
transmitted to us ; and of our purpose to do all we may for the good 
of our country and all mankind. 

While it is not practicable to name any one day for holding exercises 
in the schools, it is suggested that teachers take frequent occasion 
to speak upon the subject ; that the children be induced to read and 
write about it ; and that before the close of the schools for the year, 
an afternoon be taken for exercises calculated to create interest in the 
theme and in the celebration. 



THE LAKE CHAMPLAIN TERCENTENARY COMMISSION 

ORGANIZATION AND PLANS 



ON April 15, 1907, Hon. Henry W. Hill of Buffalo offered in 
the State Senate the following concurrent resolution author ^ 
izing the appointment of a commission to confer with com' 
missioners from Vermont and the Dominion of Canada in relation 
to the observance of the tercentenary of the discovery of Lake 
Champlain : 

Whereas, The discovery of Lake Champlain by Samuel de Champlain, 
in July, 1609, antedates the discovery by the whites of any other 
portion of the territory now comprising the State of New York, and 
was an event worthy of commemoration in the annals of the State 
and nation, and 

Whereas, The State of Vermont, in 1906, appointed a commission 
consisting of the Governor of that state and six other commissioners, to 
confer with commissioners to be appointed on the part of New York 
and the Dominion of Canada, to ascertain what action, if any, ought 
to be taken by such states and the Dominion of Canada for the 
observance of such tercentenary. 

Therefore, Resolved (if the Assembly concur), that a commission, 
consisting of the Governor, who shall be chairman, ex officio, two 
citizens to be designated by him, the Lieutenant Governor, the Speaker 
of the Assembly, two Senators, to be designated by the Lieutenant 
Governor, and two members of the Assembly, to be designated by the 
Speaker, be appointed to represent the State of New York at such 
conference, with power to enter into negotiations with the commis' 
sioners representing the State of Vermont and those representing the 
Dominion of Canada for the observance of such tercentenary, and that 
such commission report the results of their negotiations, together with 
their recommendations thereon, to the Legislature of 1908. 

That such commissioners receive no pay for their services and that 
their necessary expenses be paid by the State, but such payment shall 
not exceed the amount expressly appropriated therefor. 

In accordance with the above resolution, which was adopted by the 
Senate April 15, 1907, and by the Assembly April 16, 1907, the following 
appointments were made to the commission : by the Governor, the 
Hon. Frank S. Witherbee of Port Henry and the Hon. John H. Booth 
of Plattsburg ; by the Lieutenant Governor, the Hon. Henry W. Hill 
of Buffalo, and the Hon. John C. R. Taylor of Middletown ; by the 
Speaker of the Assembly, the Hon. Alonson T. Dominy of Beekman^ 
town and the Hon. James A. Foley of New York city. 

The New York and the Vermont commissions made a tour of 
inspection of Lake Champlain in September 1907 visiting nearly all the 



important points of historical interest and determining upon a general 
plan of celebration. At a joint meeting of the commissions held at 
Albany, December 21, 1907, resolutions which had been previously 
adopted by a special subcommittee were adopted by the whole 
commission setting forth the advisability of an appropriate celebration 
through the cooperation of New York and Vermont and the 
federal government. Thereafter a bill was submitted to the Legis- 
lature which was enacted and became chapter 149 of the laws of 
1908 providing for the celebration of the tercentenary of the dis- 
covery of Lake Champlain and the appointment of a commission. 
The commission appointed under the above law consists of 
H. Wallace Knapp of Mooers, N. Y., chairman; Henry W. Hill cf 
Buffalo, secretary; W alter C. Witherbee of Port Henry, treasurer; 
James J. Frawley of New York city ; James Shea of Lake Placid ; 
William R. Weaver of Peru ; James A. Foley of New York city ; 
John H. Booth of Plattsburg ; John B. Riley of Plattsburg ; Louis C. 
Lafontaine of Champlain ; and How/land Pell of New York city. 

PROGRAM OF EXERCISES 

The New York and Vermont commissions have concluded con- 
tracts with Mr L. O. Armstrong of Montreal to present Indian 
pageants on Lake Champlain during the tercentenary celebration. 
These will be presented by 150 native Indian descendants of the 
original tribes that occupied portions of the Champlain valley at the 
time of its discovery by Champlain. They will reproduce the battle 
of Champlain with the Iroquois and also present a dramatic version 
of Longfellow's " Hiawatha " on floating barges anchored on the 
waters of the lake at various places where exercises are to be held. 
All the churches of Vermont and New York have been invited to 
participate in general observances on Sunday, July 4, 1909, and formal 
exercises will be held on July 5 at Crown Point, on July 6 at Fort 
Ticonderoga, on July 7 at Plattsburg, on July 8 at Burlington and on 
July 9 at Isle La Motte, at each of which places Indian pageants 
will be presented. President Taft, Vice President Sherman, Speaker 
Cannon, representatives of France, Great Britain and Canada, and 
Governors Hughes of New York and Prouty of Vermont are expected 
to attend the exercises. It is expected that patriotic, historical and 
other societies will hold commemorative exercises at other times and 
places also. A full program can not as yet be given. The commission 
will later make complete announcements through the press and in an 
official program. 



OBSERVANCE BY THE SCHOOLS 

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Medal struck in Quebec in 1904 



NASMUCH as the celebration comes at 
a time when the schools of the State 
are not generally in session, it is not 
deemed practicable to set apart any one day 
for observance of the tercentenary in the 
schools. It is to be hoped, however, that 
exercises will be held in each case as 
best suits local convenience. All classes 
in history may well make a special study of 
the life and explorations of Champlain and the conspicuous part the lake 
which bears his name has in our early history. In this connection it is 
hoped that the article on " Champlain and the Lake" in this bulletin will 
be found useful. The special attention of teachers of history is also 
called to the map at the end, which has been carefully and accurately 
prepared and which shows all the main points of historical interest on 
the lake. This bulletin can not, of course, be more than generally 
suggestive. The reading list will be found useful in the preparation of 
programs. While it is always necessary to have in mind the grade 
and work of an individual school in preparing a program, the following 
topics are suggested with the thought that they may be modified to 
meet individual needs : 

Essays. The Prehistoric Lake; The Lake To-day; A Brief 
Account of Champlain's Life; The Discovery of Lake Champlain; 
Champlain's Battle with the Iroquois; Lake Champlain in Colonial 
Days; Lake Champlain in the Revolution; Lake Champlain in 
"the War of 1812; The Defeat of Abercrombie at Ticonderoga; 
The Capture of Ticonderoga by Ethan Allen; The Capture of 
Ticonderoga by Burgoyne; The Story of the Royal Savage; The 
Scenery of the Champlain Valley ; The Hurons and the Algonquins. 
Readings. The Geology of the Champlain Valley [p. 25-27] ; 
Lake Champlain [p. 30-31] ; selections from Champlain and the Lake 
[p. 11-22]; selections from Champlain's own account of his voyages, 
especially the discovery of the lake and the battle with the Iroquois [see 
reading list, p. 9]. 

Recitations. Ticonderoga [p. 28-29] ; By the Shores of Lake 
Champlain [p. 23]; Surprise of Ticonderoga; Burgoyne's Fleet [see 
reading list, p. 9]. 



LAKE CHAMPLAIN : A SELECT READING LIST 

Biographies and original narratives of Champlain 

Champlain, Samuel de. Voyages, 1604-1618 ; ed. by W. L Grant. 377p.O. N.Y. 
1907. Scribner $3 net. (Original Narratives of Early American History) 

Voyages and Explorations, 1604-1616; tr. by A. N. Bourne. 2v.D. N.Y. 1906. 

Barnes $2 net. 

Dix, E. A. Champlain, the Founder of New France. 246p.D. N.Y. 1903. Appleton 
$ 1 net. Gives more space to purely personal matters and less to historical conditions than Parkman's 
account in the Pioneers of France in the New World. 

Sedgwick, H. D. Samuel de Champlain. 126p.S. Bost. 1902. Houghton 65c net. 
(Riverside Biographical Ser.) Designed for young readers. 

History 

Palmer, P. S. History of Lake Champlain, 1609-1814. 276p.O. Albany 1866 
Munsell $5. 

The only complete and concise history of Lake Champlain. Now out of print. The same material can be 
found in the following works. 

Arnold, I. N. Naval Battle of Valcour Island. (See his Life of Benedict Arnold. 1897. 
p. 105-20. McClurg$1.50) 

Brady, C. T. Fighting around Ticonderoga. (See his Colonial Fights and Fighters. 

1907. p.263-86. McClure $1.50) 
Fiske, John. American Revolution. 2v.D. Bost. 1899. Houghton $4. 

All the pertinent material is in v.l. 

■ New France and New England. 378p.D. Bost. 1902. Houghton $2. 

Hall, Henry. Capture of Ticonderoga. (See his Ethan Allen. 1892. p.61-80. 
Appleton $ I ) 

Johnson, Rossiter. History of the French War. 381p.D. N.Y. 1882. Dodd $1. 
Livingston, W. F. Attack on Ticonderoga. (See his Israel Putnam. 1901. p. 74-84. 
Putnam $1.35 net) 

Lossing, B. T. Pictorial Field-book of the War of 1812. 1084p.O. N.Y. 1868-96 
Harper $3.50. 

Pictorial Field-book of the Revolution. 2v.O. N.Y. 1860. Harper $7. 

All the pertinent material is in v.l. 
Parkman, Francis. Historic Handbook of the Northern Tour. 180p.O. Bost. 1899. 
Little $1.50. 

The narratives of Lake Champlain are drawn from Pioneers of France in the New World and 
Montcalm and Wolfe. 



Montcalm and Wolfe. 2v.D. Bost. 1903. Little $4. 

Lake Champlain in the French and Indian War. 

Pioneers of France in the New World. 473p.D. Bost. 1898. Little $1.50. 

Champlain and the discovery of the lake. 

Roosevelt, Theodore. Naval War of 1812. 549p.O. N.Y. 1889. Putnam $2.50. 

Poetry about Lake Champlain 
Harper, J. M. Champlain : a drama in three acts. 296p.D. N.Y. 1909. JohnLaneCo. 
Stansbury, M. A. P. Surprise of Ticonderoga. (See Scollard, Clinton. Ballads of 

American Bravery. 1900. p. 13-17. Silver 50c) 
Street, A. B. Burgoyne's Fleet. (See Longfellow, H. W. Poems of Places: America 

Middle States. 1879. p.61-65. Houghton $1) 
Tuckerman, H. T. Lake Champlain. (See Longfellow, H. W. Poems of Flaces • 

America, Middle States. 1879. p.58-60) 
Wilson, V. B. Ticonderoga. (5t't' Longfellow, H. W. Poems of Places : America, 

Middle States. 1879. p. 241-43; also Matthews, Brander. Poems of American 

Patriotism. 1907. p.21-24. Scribner $1.50) 

Prose 

Canavan, M. J. Ben Comee; a Tale of Rogers's Rangers, 1758-59. 263p.D. NY 1899 
Macmillan $1 50. 

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Old Ticonderoga. (See his House of the Seven Gables and 
The Stone Image. Riverside ed. 1892. p.591-97. Houghton $2) 




Statue of Champlain at Quebec 



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CHAMPLA1N AND THE LAKE 

THE discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, in 1492, 
was the greatest and most far-reaching event of the 
ages. It opened the pathway to a new world and led hither 
sailors and explorers who prepared it for settlement and civilization. 
These men were stout of spirit and sturdy of frame, used to toil and 
heedless of hardships. They were persistent and resourceful. Their 
names are renowned in story. Among them are Ponce de Leon 
who sought the " fountain of perpetual youth " in Florida; Balboa who 
from a peak in Darien first looked upon the Pacific ; Cortez who con- 
quered Mexico, and Pizarro who conquered Peru; De Soto who 
found the Mississippi and was buried in its waters; and Coronado 
whose expedition opened a wide region west of the Mississippi. 
These were all Spanish explorers but Spain made no permanent settle- 
ments in the United States except at Saint Augustine and Santa Fe. 
For England, the Cabots so early as 1497 struck land on Cape Breton 
and skirted the Atlantic coast, probably from Labrador to the Carolinas. 
A century later Sir Humphrey Gilbert claimed Newfoundland in the 
name of his queen, and Sir Walter Raleigh attempted to establish 
a colony in North Carolina, while Drake, Hawkins and other daring 
spirits swept the high seas almost clear of Spanish vessels. But 
England made no lasting colonization at this time upon the soil she 
was eventually to govern. For France, Denis of Horfleur and Aubert 
of Dieppe sailed over the Gulf of St Lawrence, and Baron de Lery 
tried in vain to make a settlement on Sable island early in the 16th 
century. In 1523 Verrazano entered The Narrows, gazed upon the 
spacious harbor of New York and saw the beautiful river which 
Henry Hudson ascended 86 years afterward. He also coasted New 
England. In 1534 Jacques Cartier went up the St Lawrence river to 
the Indian village of Hochelaga, on the site of Montreal. In 1541 the 
Sieur de Roberval constructed a building — half barracks and half castle 
— at Hochelaga, but was obliged by adverse circumstances to abandon 
his settlement. Efforts were also made by the French to plant a colony 
in Florida, but it failed to thrive; and they were finally driven thence 
by the Spaniards. And so, while there had been many valuable dis- 
coveries and explorations in the territory now embraced in the United 
States and British America, it can not be said that any European people 
really occupied any portion of it at the close of the 1 6th century. 

11 



In the 17th century the colonization of North America practically 
begins and the nations of Europe contend for the possession of a conti- 
nent. As the century unrolls, strong characters appear and stirring 
events occur. Among the many men of pith and pluck who answer 
to the call of " Westward ho ! " — the pioneers and makers of states — 
none is more notable or nobler than Samuel de Champlain. He may 
be fairly termed a master builder. He was sailor and soldier, projector 
and explorer, map maker and chronicler, crusader and patriot, 
governor and colonizer. He was bold and unflinching, earnest, honest 
and just, and was a commanding figure in American affairs in his day. 

He was born about 1567 — the exact date is not known — in 
Brouage, on the southwest coast of France, now an insignificant ham- 
let, then a flourishing seaport. His father engaged in the fisheries 
and became a captain in the royal navy, and his uncle, called "the 
Provencal captain," was a stanch seaman often employed in important 
naval movements. Samuel was a bright and sturdy boy, had a decent 
education, played about the wharves and held converse with the 
sailors, among whom he was a favorite. He was fascinated by their 
accounts of travel and peril and learned much about ships, how to 
manage them and whither they went. He meant to be a sailor, but 
this was a time when discord reigned in France and Henry IV was 
fighting for his crown; and Champlain, although he was a Catholic 
in a Catholic town, joined the King's army, rose to a lieutenancy 
and by his bravery attracted the attention of the King who awarded 
him a pension at the end of the contest, and attached him to his 
person. So, he was a soldier, but the King releasing him in 1598, 
he took service with his uncle, the Provengal captain, who had been 
made pilot general to send the Spaniards home from their last strong- 
hold in Brittany. Champlain went with them to Cadiz. This experi- 
ence fitted him for the command of his uncle's vessel which, chartered 
by Spain, joined the royal fleet bound for the West Indies and in 
January 1599 he started "strange countries for to see." He then 
began a journal, which he continued during his life, noting things done 
and seen by him, in phrase somewhat crude and clumsy and occa- 
sionally betraying a strange credulity as to marvels related to him. It is 
illustrated by sketch maps and with grotesque drawings, but in the 
main it is free from self-conceit, closely observant, painstaking and 
truthful in narrative. It is a mine of information, of the utmost historic 
value. It is for New France what Governor Bradford's record is for 
Plymouth. He was absent from France over two years, visiting nearly 
all the West Indies, Yucatan, Mexico and the Isthmus of Panama. 

12 



From Havana he returned with the Spanish fleet, richly laden with 
tropic products to Spain, and thence he went to the court of France. 
But he could not be an idle courtier. He sought adventure. With 
the King's permission, he accepted a place as geographer royal from 
Amyar de Chastes, governor of Dieppe. Chastes was a gallant soldier 
who had, although a Catholic, like Champlain, fought for Henry and 
stood high in that monarch's favor. De Chastes had a plan for French 
colonization in New France and obtained a monopoly of the fur trade 
therein. There had been previous concessions of a like nature to 
the Marquis de la Roche and Chauvin and a trading post had been 



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Sloop bay off Valcour island 

established at Tadousac near the mouth of the Saguenay, but it had 
not been successful. De Chastes joined with him several prominent 
merchants, chief of whom was Pontgrave who had made several 
voyages to the St Lawrence. An expedition for commercial purposes 
and the spread of the gospel was organized in 1603. Champlain 
accompanied it in the position named, being told by the King to bring 
back a " true report of what should befall." It sailed as far as Montreal 
where no trace of Hochelaga, as seen by Cartier, was found. It tried 
in vain to go up the Lachine rapids and heard wondrous stories of 
Niagara and the Great Lakes. Champlain explored and mapped out 
the river, and returned to find de Chastes dead. The concession fell 

13 



to de Monts and, second to him, Champlain made another voyage, 
wintering on the island of St Croix and aiding in a settlement at Port 
Royal. Between 1604 and 1606 he made a complete chart of the 
Atlantic seaboard from Cape Breton to Cape Cod. In 1607 he was 
again in France. 

And now begins Champlain's great career in America, when the 
explorer becomes the colonizer and the projector, the administrator. 
He was fully prepared for his task. He was in the prime of life, 
alert, ambitious, accustomed to command and well acquainted with 
the region he was to exploit. He had outlined a definite scheme, 
which included the security of the French domain in the new world 
by permanent occupation and its extension by opening pathways from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific. He therefore accepted the proposal of 
de Monts, whose trading privileges had been renewed, to lead a colony 
to Canada. Champlain was appointed governor, with Pontgrave' 
who had had much experience as a trader, as business manager. 
Champlain was positive that settlement should be made on the St 
Lawrence river rather than in Acadia (Nova Scotia). He knew 
Quebec as a natural fortress. With it as a key the waterways and 
lakes beyond would be unlocked to commerce with the forest Indians. 
His plans approved, he landed his company of 28 men at Quebec, 
July 3, 1608. Building immediately began near the site of the present 
market place in the lower town ; and New France was founded — 
that vast realm which was to stretch southwest from the St Lawrence 
to the Gulf of Mexico, including the basin of the Mississippi and 
touching the Rocky mountains on their eastern slope. About it 
the halo of romance still lingers. Its story shines with discovery and 
enchants with adventure. It is starred with the daring and energy of 
La Salle and Hennepin and Marquette and with the zeal of the 
martyred missionaries of the cross. Much of the territory remained 
the resort of hunters and trappers, with a string of forts and trading 
posts from Quebec to New Orleans. It is not necessary here to 
describe the civilization which ensued or to compare it with that with 
which England fringed the Atlantic, in which homes were made and 
free institutions declared. Suffice it to say that for the mistakes into 
■which French occupation fell, Champlain was not responsible, for he 
builded on broad foundations, and lower Canada, at least, owes much 
of its liberties and prosperities to his inspiration. 

The first year at Quebec was a severe one. At its end, 20 
persons had died, and a plot to kill the governor and seize the stores 
had been exposed and the ringleader executed, but the governor 

14 




15 



persevered in his work. He had come to stay. A storehouse 
and three dwellings had been constructed, inclosed by a palisade, and 
outside ground had been cleared and grain sown. Supplies and 
reinforcements, under Pontgrave, had arrived from Tadousac and the 
colony went on bravely. 

In the summer of 1609 — 300 years ago — an event occurred 
which is of special moment to New York. It was an expedition 
toward the south, undertaken at the instance of friendly Indians. 
Ascending the St Lawrence to the mouth of the Richelieu, with a 
considerable force of Indians and a few Frenchmen, Champlain was 
there deserted by a large number of his dusky allies and he ordered 
all his countrymen, save two, back to Quebec. He proceeded, 
however, with 60 picked Algonquin and Huron braves and 24 canoes 
until he reached the lake to which with pardonable pride he gave his 
name and it is happily still so called. He was the first white man to 
behold it. Subsequent surveys have shown it to be 125 miles long 
with a width varying from 1^2 mile to 15 miles, with headlands 
and quiet bays, with a depth sufficient for ships of the largest class and 
dotted with more than 50 islands. The precise date when Champlain 
entered the lake is not known, but it was either on or very near to the 
4th of July. It would be exceedingly interesting if he saw the lake 
which forms, for the greater part of its course, the boundary between 
two states of the American Union, on the day which is held forever 
sacred by the citizens of this Republic ; and it does not require a too 
vivid imagination to think of this good writer and maker of history, 
this brave explorer, presenting the lake which he had found, to the 
great republic that came into being 167 years afterward. Title to it 
originally comes from his hands, and in connection with Indepen^ 
dence day renders still more fitting the hearty commemoration by 
Americans of the tercentenary of Champlain' s discovery. 

As Champlain entered the lake, he noticed many pretty islands 
covered with woods and meadows, with great numbers of fowls 
and such animals as stags, fawns and bears. It was bordered 
by many fine trees, chestnut and others, of the same kinds as those 
in France, with many finer than he had seen in any other place- 
This region was not inhabited by any savages, as they had with' 
drawn into the interior in order not to be surprised by their 
enemies. Ascending the lake, "Cumberland head was passed, 
and from the opening of the great channel between Grande isle 
and the main he could look forth on the wilderness sea. Edged 
with woods, the tranquil flood spread southward beyond the sight. 

16 



Far on the left rose the forest ridges of the Green mountains, and 
on the right the Adirondacks, haunts in these later years of amateur 
sportsmen from countingrooms or college halls. Then the Iroquois 
made them their hunting ground ; and beyond, in the valleys of the 
Mohawk, the Onondaga and the Genesee, stretched the long line of 
their five cantons and palisaded towns . . . Their goal was the rocky 
promontory where Fort Ticonderoga was long afterward built. 
Thence, they would pass the outlet of Lake George and launch their 
canoes again on that Como of the wilderness, whose waters, limpid 
as a fountain head, stretched far southward between their flanking 
mountains." [Parkmau] 




Ruins at Crown Point 



They gained their goal on the 29th of July, but they were now in 
the "enemy's country," for there was assembled to dispute their 
further progress a body of the Iroquois warriors who were at deadly 
feud with the Hurons and Algonquins. It was 10 o'clock in the 
evening when Crown Point was reached and the Iroquois were seen 
on the water. Both parties began to utter loud cries and to get their 
arms in readiness for the fight which was sure to come. The Iroquois 
went on shore, drew up their canoes, began to fell trees and erect a 
barricade. The night was spent in dancing and singing with constant 
braggings and insults passing between the hostile tribes. When the 

17 



morning of the 30th came, Champlain and his two white associates 
kept well under cover, but saw the Iroquois, stout and rugged, come 
out of their barricade at a slow pace, with three chiefs at their head. 
The Hurons and Algonquins ran toward their foes who stood firmly 
against the attack. Then they began to call upon Champlain for help, 
and, through an opening in their ranks, he advanced until he was 
within about 30 paces of the enemy who looked upon him with 
fear. The battle was almost immediately decided by French 
arquebus as against Iroquois arrow ; for firearms were unknown to the 
red man, although it was not long before he learned to use them. 
Champlain raised his musket, loaded with four balls, and aimed directly 
at the chiefs. With the one shot two fell to the ground and the other 
died soon afterward. Meanwhile the arrows flew on both sides. The 
Iroquois were greatly alarmed at the loss of their chiefs. As Champlain 
was loading again, one of his companions fired another shot with 
deadly efFect, which terrified the Iroquois still more and they took to 
flight in the woods. They were pursued, a number being killed and 
some 10 or 12 prisoners taken. It was an utter rout. Some 15 or 16 
of Champlain' s forces were wounded, but none severely. The battle 
took place at or near Ticonderoga. Champlain made a drawing of it, 
after his fashion, which is here reproduced. 

History says that Champlain committed a great error in thus exciting 
the hatred of that great confederacy against the French — a hatred 
that never wavered and by which both the Dutch and English profited 
materially; but if it was an error, it was one of the issues of which 
Champlain could not anticipate, and to it the adage, "If our foresight 
were as good as our hindsight we would never make any mistakes," 
may well apply. 

He might have hesitated had he been vouchsafed a vision of the 
future. In it he would have seen Henry Hudson, under the flag of 
Holland, ascending the river which bears his name and could have 
exchanged civilities with him across 100 miles of forest. He would 
have seen the lake spread at his feet the pathway which hostile Indian 
tribes passed to sack and slaughter. He would have seen continuous 
collisions between the French and English, each with their Indian 
allies. He would have seen French fortresses on its bank, the 
advance upon Crown Point of Sir William Johnson and his retreat 
as well; the death of Howe, and Montcalm's repulse of Abercrombie 
at Ticonderoga. But he would also at the last have witnessed taking 
of Crown Point and Ticonderoga by the great English soldier, Amherst, 
in 1758, and the capture by him of Montreal, and the end of French 




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dominion, in Canada, in 1760. He would also, not without a thrill of 
joy it is to be imagined, have seen the American people winning from 
Great Britain the same territory that France had forever lost. He 
would have seen Benedict Arnold, afterward so sadly soiling his fame, 
performing prodigies of valor ; Ethan Allen seizing Ticonderoga, " by 
the authority of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress"; 
Crown Point also falling at his hands; Montgomery and Arnold, 
descending the lake, successfully assaulting St John's and making a bril- 
liant attack upon Quebec, where Montgomery died gloriously. He 
would have seen Sir Guy Carleton, in October 1776, with a fleet of 31 
vessels and 12,000 men invading New York by way of Champlain, 
met by Arnold with a few petty schooners and sloops — only 70 guns 
withal and a meager force — at Valcour island. He would have 
seen a desperate engagement, the first battle between an American 
and a British fleet ; and Arnold, crippled as he needs must be, skilfully 
slipping through the British line and winning laurels as " the bravest of 
the brave," taking what was left of his command to Ticonderoga, 
from before which Carleton retreats without daring to fire upon it. 
He would have seen the boastful Burgoyne sweeping with his army 
through the wilderness on the west side of the waters and retaking 
Ticonderoga — what a memorable spot ! — but to be overwhelmed at 
Saratoga — the decisive engagement of the American Revolution. As 
the vision of Champlain opened still farther, he would have seen his 
lake again the scene of operations in the second conflict between the 
United States and Great Britain, and would have witnessed one of 
the bloodiest and most splendid encounters in naval warfare which has 
made the name of Macdonough illustrious ; and he would also have 
seen the channel through which an abundant commerce flowed, lined 
on either side with cultivated fields and pleasure grounds, the homes of 
a patriotic and prosperous people, with villages of thrift and manu' 
factures and marts, with two cities at its foot, where are churches 
and colleges and schools and stately mansions and the refinements of 
civilization, with the progress and enlightenment which natural advan- 
tages and free institutions produce. 

But no such vision was permitted him. He saw only the fleeing 
Iroquois, the exultant Hurons and the blue expanse mirroring the 
wooded slopes and summits. He returned to Quebec to tell the 
incidents of his invasion and to protect and urge the interests of his 
colony. For 26 years thereafter he was almost continuously governor 
of New France, laboring unceasingly for its increase. He made 
many trips to France, sometimes with prolonged absence, for the 

20 




HOtOGRAPH BY GEORGE H 



Arnold's point 



The schooner. Royal Savage, was beached at Arnold's point on Valcour island and abandoned on 
October 1 1 , 1776. In the evening she was boarded by the British and burned. Her hull was dragged out 
by subsequent storms and may be seen to this day a short distance from the shore through the ice in winter 
or when the water is calm in summer. 



assurance of royal favor and the adjustment of trading privileges and 
also many explorations of the immense, yet loosely defined, domain 
intrusted to his charge. He cleared the ground at Montreal for settle' 
ment and planted seeds therein as he had at Quebec. He journeyed 
up the Ottawa, possibly to the site whereon now stands the capital 
of the Dominion of Canada. He crossed Ontario, passed up the 

21 



Georgian bay, entered Huron and was entertained in Huron villages, 
thus acquainting himself with the country of the Great Lakes and 
fortifying the title of his King thereto. He maintained cordial relations 
with the Indian tribes with which he, at the first, leagued himself — 
frequently acting as umpire in their disputes — and by whom he was 
wellnigh worshipped. He fought the Iroquois persistently, if not 
always triumphantly, being once, at least, badly wounded and worsted 
by the Onondagas at a palisaded town near Oneida lake. His defeat, 
however, was due mainly to the recklessness of his Huron allies. 
He encouraged the missions of his church, esteeming the salvation of 
souls as of the highest import and not without influence upon commer- 
cial and political development. His administration was strict and 
upright, although tempered with mercy. He upheld the powers of the 
King and was, although personally democratic, the minister of absolu- 
tism. He was, however, restrained in arbitrary acts by his kindly 
heart. The greed of the trading companies caused him much anxiety 
and trouble, but he endeavored to compose their differences and never 
himself engaged in or profited by traffic with the Indians. He founded 
a school at Quebec in which the children of the savages were taught the 
precepts of religion, the French language and the usages of civilization. 
Toward the close of his life hardship beset and disaster befell 
Quebec. The traders neglected to provide supplies for the town and 
refused to repair its fortifications. Discontent reigned and famine 
threatened. A new company, the " Hundred Associates," with 
Cardinal Richelieu at its head, was organized, upon whom sovereignty 
and the control of the fur and other commodities of New France were 
conferred and a fleet was despatched to succor Quebec. But France 
and England were at war and, in July 1629, an English squadron, 
under Admiral David Kirke, overpowered the relief transports and 
captured Quebec. Champlain retired to France but, four years later, 
when England had given up Quebec, he came back as governor and 
again took up the work of colonization ; but within two years he was 
wasted by sickness and, on Christmas 1635, he died in the place to 
whose upbuilding he had given so much of his time, his energy and his 
capacity as a leader of men. Well is it that the city which he founded 
and of which he is affectionately called the father, has erected a stately 
monument to his memory and emphasized his virtues by elaborate 
ceremonial. Well is it also that the Empire State, one of whose most 
picturesque and serviceable waterways he discovered, three centuries 
ago, should unite with a kindred people in acknowledging its obligation 
and testifying to the worth of Samuel de Champlain. 

Charles Elliott Fitch 
22 



BY THE SHORES OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN 

LINKED to many a wild tradition 
^ In the grimy wigwam told, 

Where the red men breathless listened 

To the Mohawk hunter bold — ■ 
Girt about with mystic legends 

That have not been breathed in vain, 
'Neath the clear skies of the Northland, 
Lie the waters of Champlain. 

Still adown its vanished vistas 

Which the eye would fain explore 
Come the laugh of dusky maidens 

And the dip of pliant oar ; 
And methinks across its bosom 

With their sails as white as snow, 
To the music of its forests. 

Flit the fleets of long ago. 

Now a bit of flaming scarlet 

For a moment comes in view 
And 'neath yonder rugged headland 

Is a dash of buff and blue ; 
Often hath been told the story 

Of that ever glorious fray. 
How on its historic waters 

Once Macdonough won the day. 

Far above its sunlit ripples 

Soars the eagle in his might. 
Over cove, and crag, and headland. 

High above the beacon light ; 
Years will come, and years will vanish. 

They will not disturb his reign. 
For the fierce, proud bird of freedom 

Is the monarch of Champlain. 

You have but to scan its waters 

If its beauties you would know, 
You have but to turn its pages 

For the deeds of long ago ; 
For its legends and traditions 

You will never seek in vain ; 
For the story of the ages 

Is the story of Champlain. 

Thomas C. Harbangh 

23 




Champlain's astrolabe 



The astrolabe shown above is supposed to have been lost by Champlain in 1613 on his first journey up 
the Ottawa river. It was found in 1867 in the county of North Renfrew in the province of Ontario, near 
the river. It is certain from Champlain's own narrative that he traveled over the portage road in which the 
astrolabe was found. He states that in ascending the Ottawa, he reached Chaudiere falls on the 4th, the 
Rapids des Chats on the 5th, and the Island of Sainte Croix and the Portage du Fort on the 6th of June, 
1613. It was during his march on the 7th of June that the astrolabe is supposed to have been lost. The 
astrolabe is one of the earliest instruments used in determining latitude. The actual diameter of this specimen 
is 5% inches. It is of plate brass I inch thick above increasing to « inch below to give it steadiness when 
suspended. Its circle is divided into single degrees. The double-bladed index has sh's and eyelets in the 
projecting sights. By turning the index direct to the sun at noon so that the same ray could shine fully 
through both eyelets while the astrolabe hung freely, the sun's meridian altitude and thereby the latitude of 
the place of observation could be taken within about a quarter of a degree. The date of 1 603 is inscribed 
on the face of the astrolabe. It is in the possession of Mr Samuel V. Hoffman of New York city through 
whose courtesy it is reproduced. It is expected that the instrument will be exhibited in September by the 
New York Historical Society. 



24 



THE GEOLOGY OF THE CHAMPLAIN VALLEY 

JACQUES CARTIER, beating about the headland of Gaspe in 
the midsummer heat of 1534, beheld the mouth of the "Great 
river" — the St Lawrence — hurried back to France to bear 
the tidings of his discovery of the western route to Cathay, and next 
year carried the French lilies far up the new waterway to the Indian 
village of Hochelaga; the first of all white men to pass through the 
eastern gateway into the vast domain of New France. All uncon- 
scious, he had opened up to the nations the oldest and most majestic 
of the earth's inland waterways, a channel through which the waters 
of the western land have discharged into the sea from the nativity of 
the continents and the gray twilight of creation. 

It required a tremendous strain of our foster mother Earth to let 
the Frenchman into the inland secrets of this western world. We 
know that the path of this river was laid and its course determined by 
a very long and very deep rupture of the rock strata, and the geological 
structure of the country shows that north of the river lies a vast area 
of hard granitic rocks, extending from the Laurentian mountains to 
Labrador and beyond in both directions; to the south of the river, 
however, are much softer rocks of limestone, shale and sandstone 
which were laid down by the sea about the edges of the granites. 
Against these constituents of the growing continent the tremendous 
weight of the Atlantic ocean pressed out and the great mass, twisted 
and bent into mountain folds, broke down along the line where the 
hard and soft masses came together, one mass slipping down against 
the other. Thus was formed the great long wound in the earth's 
crust which is sometimes known as " Logan's fault," and this has 
directed the flow of the St Lawrence waters for all subsequent time. 
The way had been ready for the explorer untold centuries before he 
ventured upon the chance of finding it. 

With the rapid procession of the slender doings in the French 
settlements time ran on till the coming of Champlain. From his day 
back to Cartier's the occasional venturer from the settlements had 
gone on to the south and brought back reports of the vast lake in that 
region. In geographical discovery, as in history, we are wont to 
associate great events about conspicuous names, and we have lost the 
name of the lowly French trader or soldier who first laid white man's 
eyes on the waters of the splendid lake we call today after the founder 
of New France. But we may well believe that when Champlain 

25 



and his Algonquin allies sailed its waters in 1609 the commander could 
not fail to see there what every eye beholds today — its rocky, steep 
bluffed western shore and the low lying coast on the east. Champlain 
would have found no lake here had not the uneasy crust of the earth 
again been shattered along a north and south line and again had not a 
great block of its mass fallen down between two others. The steep 
cliffs which line the water from Port Henry to Plattsburg are the 
upstanding faces of the rock mass from which the now sunken bottom 
of the lake was torn away as it slipped down to its present place. 
The rock blocks slipped further down on the west than on the east 
and that is the reason why the waters of the lake shallow gradually 
from the steep western shore to the low islands and gentle slopes 
of the Vermont side. 

It is easy to understand that if the structure of the earth in this 
region had been other than it is the whole course of our history must 
have been different. History takes the earth as it finds her and trails 
its frail doings along her lineaments seldom realizing that the earth 
never relaxes her irresistible control of every scene that is played out 
upon her surface. 

So these two great breaks in the crust which let Champlain begin 
the train of momentous events along the St Lawrence and Lake 
Champlain, were the growing pains of the earth. Her rigid 
rocks could not yield to the tremendous strains to which they were 
subjected from lateral thrusts and the stresses of contraction, except 
by giving way at lines of least resistance. Doubtless there is a very 
close connection between these two lines of displacement, even 
though they lie at a large angle to each other ; indeed they probably 
were contemporaneous in their origin. But these breaks are very 
ancient ; the lake has gone through many transformations since these 
early convulsions fixed its place. For ages the Champlain valley 
discharged its fresh waters, full and free, into the St Lawrence ; for 
other ages it was dammed with glacial ice which brought the waters 
at the ice foot far above their present level and when the ice had 
disappeared the salt waters of the Atlantic filled its basin and left 
over its bottom the dead whales and seals whose bones are now 
found in the high terraces above the waters. Today the free and 
open passage is blocked at the north for the valley is filled with old 
river deposits. Who will say that this blocking of the north end of 
the lake, burying its bottom under a wilderness of forest and leaving 
the little, barely navigable Sorel river the only waterway between the 
two thoroughfares, has not, by hampering the movements of French 

26 



or English armies, still further commanded the course of our history ? 

The old abiding wounds in the earth's crust which made a place for 

river and lake have never healed. Such wounds never do heal ; 

when strains set up in the crust, there they are ; lines of least resist- 

ance where movement is again most likely. It is true that our part of 

the earth is growing old and staid, but as a sober and venerable man 

may now and again burst out with an echo of his youthful spirit, so 

to the aged earth, our terra firma, the vivacity of its earlier days some- 

times returns. In 1663, when a slender population was scattered all 

the way down the St Lawrence from Montreal to Gaspe, these 

wounds opened and the rock masses slipped a little further down, 

causing one of the severest earthquakes in American history. We 

can not say when another such disturbance may come — perhaps 

never ; perhaps tomorrow. 

Lake George covers another scar in the broken crust; its steep sides 

and rocky islets are ancient testimony of the crushing downbreak 

which laid a picturesque setting for the deeds of wild daring its shores 

were to witness. 

John M. Clarke 




Moonlight scene on Lake Champlain 



27 



TICONDEROGA 

THE cold, gray light of the dawning 
On old Carillon falls, 
And dim in the mist of the morning 
Stand the grim old fortress walls. 
No sound disturbs the stillness 

Save the cataract's mellow roar. 
Silent as death is the fortress, 
Silent the misty shore. 

But up from the wakening waters 

Comes the cool, fresh morning breeze, 
Lifting the banner of Britain, 

And whispering to the trees 
Of the swift gliding boats on the waters 

That are nearing the fog' shrouded land. 
With the old Green Mountain Lion, 

And his daring patriot band. 

But the sentinel at the postern 

Heard not the whisper low ; 
He is dreaming of the banks of the Shannon 

As he walks on his beat to and fro, 
Cf the starry eyes in Green Erin 

That were dim when he marched away, 
And a tear down his bronzed cheek courses, 

'T is the first for many a day. 

A sound breaks the misty stillness. 

And quickly he glances around ; 
Through the mist, forms like towering giants 

Seem rising out of the ground ; 
A challenge, the firelock flashes, 

A sword cleaves the quivering air. 
And the sentry lies dead by the postern. 

Blood staining his bright yellow hair. 

Then, with a shout that awakens 

All the echoes of hillside and glen. 
Through the low, frowning gate of the fortress. 

Sword in hand, rush the Green mountain men. 
The scarce wakened troops of the garrison 

Yield up their trust pale with fear ; 
And down comes the bright British banner. 

And out rings a Green mountain cheer. 

28 



Flushed with pride, the whole eastern heavens 

With crimson and gold are ablaze ; 
And up springs the sun in his splendor 

And flings down his arrowy rays. 
Bathing in sunlight the fortress, 

Turning to gold the grim walls, 
While louder and clearer and higher 

Rings the song of the waterfalls. 

Since the taking of Ticonderoga 

A century has rolled away ; 
But with pride the nation remembers 

That glorious morning in May. 
And the cataract's silvery music 

Forever the story tells. 
Of the capture of old Carillon, 

The chime of the silver bells. 

V. B. Wilson 




Ruins of Fort Ticonderoga 



29 



LAKE CHAMPLAIN 

NOT thoughtless let us enter thy domain ; 
Well did the tribes of yore. 
Who sought the ocean from the distant plain, 
Call thee their country's door. 

And as the portals of a saintly pile 

The wanderer's steps delay. 
And, while he musing roams the lofty aisle. 

Care's phantoms melt away 

In the vast realm where tender memories brood 

O'er sacred haunts of time, 
That woo his spirit to a nobler mood 

And more benignant clime, — 

So in the fane of thy majestic hills 

We meekly stand elate ; 
The baffled heart a tranquil rapture fills 

Beside thy crystal gate : 

For here the incense cf the cloistered pines. 

Stained windows of the sky, 
The frescoed clouds and mountains' purple shrines, 

Proclaim God's temple nigh. 

Through wild ravines thy wayward currents glide. 

Round bosky islands play ; 
Here tufted headlands meet the lucent tide, 

There gleams the spacious bay ; 

Untracked for ages, save when crouching flew. 

Through forest-hung defiles. 
The dusky savage in his frail canoe, 

To seek the thousand isles, 

Or rally to the fragrant cedar's shade 

The settler's crafty foe. 
With toilsome march and midnight ambuscade 

To lay his dwelling low. 

Along the far horizon's opal wall 

The dark blue summits rise. 
And o'er them rifts of misty sunshine fall. 

Or golden vapor lies. , 

And over all tradition's gracious spell 

A fond allurement weaves ; 
Her low refrain the moaning tempest swells. 

And thrills the whispering leaves. 

30 



To win this virgin land, — a kingly quest, — 

Chivalric deeds were wrought ; 
Long by thy marge and on thy placid breast 

The Gaul and Saxon fought. 

What cheers of triumph in thy echoes sleep 1 

What brave blood dyed thy wave I 
A grass-grown rampart crowns each rugged steep. 

Each isle a hero's grave. 

And gallant squadrons manned for border fray. 

That rival standards bore, 
Sprung from thy woods and on thy bosom lay, — 

Stern warders of the shore. 

How changed since he whose name thy waters bear. 

The silent hills between, 
Led by his swarthy guides to conflict there, 

Entranced beheld the scene I 

Fleets swiftly ply where lagged the lone bateau, 

And quarries trench the gorge ; 
Where waned the council -fire, now steadfast glow 

The pharos and the forge. 

On Adirondack's lake-encircled crest 

Old war-paths mark the soil. 
Where idly bivouacs the summer guest. 

And peaceful miners toil. 

Where lurked the wigwam, cultured households throng; 

Where rung the panther's yell 
Is heard the low of kine, a blithesome song, 

Or chime of village bell. 

And when, to subjugate the peopled land, 

Invaders crossed the sea, 
Rushed from thy meadow-slopes a stalwart band. 

To battle for the free. 

Nor failed the pristine valor of the race 

To guard the nation's life ; 
Thy hardy sons met treason face to face. 

The foremost in the strife. 

When locusts bloom and wild-rose scents the air. 

When moonbeams fleck the stream. 
And June's long twilights crimson shadows wear. 

Here linger, gaze, and dream I 

Henry Theodore Tuckerman 

31 



CHRONOLOGY 



1567 (about) Champlain born at Brouage in France 

1603 Champlain and Pontgrave visit present sites of Quebec and Montreal 

1604-6 Champlain coasted and charted the Atlantic seaboard 

1605 Port Royal founded 

1608, July 3 Quebec founded by Champlain 

I 609, July Lake Champlain discovered by Champlain 

July 30 Champlain defeated the Iroquois near Crown Point 

1611, June Champlain cleared a spot at Montreal for settlement 

1613 Champlain explored the Ottawa river 

1615 Lakes Ontario, Huron and Nipissing discovered by Champlain 

1629, July 20 Quebec capitulated to the English expedition under Sir David Kirke 

1629-33 Champlain in France 

1632, March 29 Canada and Acadia retroceded to France 

1633, May 23 Champlain returned to Quebec as governor of Canada 
1635, Dec. 25 Champlain died at Quebec 

1646 Lake George discovered by Isaac Jogues 

1710 Split Rock, in the town of Essex, acknowledged as the limit of English 

domain by the treaty of Utrecht 

1731 French fort (St Frederic) built at Crown Point 

1755 Fort Carillon (Ticonderoga) built by the French 

1 755 Sir William Johnson built Fort William Henry 

1 758 Abercrombie's unsuccessful attack on Montcalm at Ticonderoga 

I 759, Aug. 4 Fort St Frederic occupied by General Amherst and rebuilt by the English 

1 775, May 10 Ticonderoga surprised and captured by Ethan Allen 

1 775, May 1 I Crown Point taken by Seth Warner without bloodshed 

1 776, Oct. 1 1 Arnold's naval battle with British fleet near Valcour island 

I 777 Americans under St Clair forced to withdraw from Ticonderoga 

1813, July 31 British under Colonel Murray took possession of Plattsburg 

1814, Sept. 1 1 Battle of Lake Champlain. Macdonough's victory 




Champlain's flag 



32 



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